Choosing a Joyful Life with Cancer

Monthly Archives: January 2014

I came across this article today posted by a breast cancer survivor on another website. Naturally it caught my eye! This study shows that regular running can help prevent breast cancer recurrence by about 25%! I think that is pretty amazing!! Here are a couple of quotes from the article:

“Previous studies have shown that breast cancer survivors who meet the current exercise recommendations (2.5 hours of moderate intensity physical activity per week) are at 25% lower risk for dying from breast cancer. New research from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and reported in the International Journal of Cancer suggests that exceeding the recommendations may provide greater protection, and that running may be better than walking.”

“If I were a breast cancer survivor, I would certainly consider running or some other vigorous exercise over walking, and I wouldn’t just be doing the minimum, with the consequences and potential benefit being so great,”

Click on the link below to read the full article and read the statistics. I have always personally felt that it is more important now for me to run than ever before, and that running is a key to maintaining good health going forward. This study totally validates that notion. There are also psychological benefits to running when you are going through a difficult challenge of any kind. So get those running shoes out and lace up!!

My church makes these little videos (this one is 3 minutes long), and when I saw this one I sorta got chills. I LOVED it and wanted to share this today. Basic message: Don’t look back, look forward! It’s a message of hope and courage for anyone, no matter what you believe.

Sorry to those of you who sent me messages over the past week or two using the “contact me” icon on my site. I did not think I had received any messages at all yet, then I just checked my junk mail and found some. I’m so glad that my site has reached a few people, and I feel so bad that I haven’t responded back to some very kind messages, and even a few who have shared their story with me. I am grateful for your messages, and I will get back to you all as soon as possible (this weekend for sure!)

I think my email account just didn’t recognize these first messages that were sent through my site, and so now that I have marked them as ‘not junk’, hopefully that won’t happen in the future. I will be checking my junk mail just in case!! Sorry again, and thanks for the messages!!

This post is for those of you fighting a battle in your life (doesn’t have to be just cancer). I am in a great place now, NED for almost two years. But we all need each other in this world at certain times, and now I feel a little more capable of being a cheerleader to anyone who is in the same place I used to be!

So, . . . my thought today is this: Whatever your day looks like today, whether you are lying in bed, hospitalized with chemo sores in your mouth and a feeding tube (been there!), dragging slightly from chemo, or feeling well, but a bit scared, let’s make this the BEST day we can today. If you have friends and family all around you, GREAT!! If you are having relationship problems, or are feeling depressed, YOU can do it too!! You may not know me, but I really do care about how you are doing today, and I do know how you feel (in general, of course).

What can we do to make it the BEST day today? Start on your knees in prayer and talk to your Heavenly Father about how you are feeling and how you would like to make the best of this day. (Even if you are not a believer in God, what does it hurt to try?) Then, get up off your knees and do it!! Look for ways to make those around you happy. Thinking of others is really hard when you have a lot to focus on just to make it through the day, but it is amazing how we can still do little things that can make the better day for someone else in our path if we are determined to do it. And that can’t help but rub off on us. Okay, here’s the cheer: Rah, rah rah!!! You can do it!!!

Please feel free to share some great ideas on how to make the best of your day today, and let’s all be thinking of each other and praying for each other to succeed in this too. (And hey! You could be the lucky first person to post a comment on my new site!) Tomorrow I want reports on how it went!!

I have created a personal website called deniseneish.com. I’ve been working on it for a long time for a few reasons:

First, I made exactly what I was looking for when I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. I wanted to find survivors out there. Really, what I was looking for was hope that I might be one of the 1-3% who are cured. I always knew that if I made it to this point, I would get myself out there on the internet for other women to find.

Another reason I made this website is because I have been through an incredible experience in the last 2 1/2 years. We all seem to take turns dealing with difficult trials in our lives. I have been inspired by seeing, or reading about, others who have successfully navigated some of life’s craziest curve balls. We learn from each other, even if our paths our very different. My hope is to inspire or lift anyone going through any type of personal crisis.

Optimistic Stage 4 Breast Cancer Study

Written Apr 10, 2012 11:10pm

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/20/3/620.full
This is the most hopeful study I have found about metastatic (stage 4) breast cancer. Please share this with anyone who has breast cancer. There is more hope for cure for stage 4 breast cancer than doctors usually communicate to the patients. I have looked for positive studies about metastatic breast cancer for the past year, and this one is my favorite!!